Quirky spaceship house for sale

The ultimate in out-there 1960's architecture

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It's claimed that Hugh Hefner once owned one, and now the ultimate in out-there 1960's architecture - Raglan's spaceship house - is for sale.

The house looks out over the Whaingaroa Harbour mouth from its quarter-acre waterfront leasehold section. Ray White real estate agent Stephen O'Byrne says there is good interest in the quirky offering, priced at "high twos, low threes".

The "futuro" house, the product of idealistic space race-era thinking and pitched as an affordable plastic mass-housing solution, fell victim to the early 1970s oil shocks that sent the price of oil and plastics into orbit.

Raglan became the final frontier for the eye-catching mid-century design remnant when former sea captain Peter Farrell moved it there after his junior officers saw it in Tauranga in the 1970s, and he decided to buy it.

It had earlier been the topic of some discussion because it featured in a three-page pictorial spread in a September 1970 Playboy on board ship.

Speaking to former Waikato Times editor Venetia Sherson in an interview for a 2008 book about Raglan, Mr Farrell said he had fallen in love with the house, especially as it gave him something in common with Mr Hefner. Fewer than a 100 such houses were made, including a handful in New Zealand by a Christchurch company under licence from its Finnish manufacturers.

Mr Farrell's recent death means his unique seaside retirement berth, on a new 30-year lease, will be auctioned next month unless it is sold beforehand. It also comes with a three-car garage.